X-Men #203 Review

X-MEN #203
Written by Mike Carey
Art by Humberto Ramos

This issue was all over the place. I'm not sure what to think to be honest. Apparently Emma had a secret plan for the diaries put in place just in case an event like the previous issue occurred. She put mental blocks in everybody's minds so they believed the blank books were the actual diaries while also implanting a mental 'key word' that unlocked the secret location they hid the real ones at. Even Emma had the information blocked, which begs the question of how she remembered she blocked them out in the first place.

It's like Carey is retconning in the diary explanation to a story he's been building up to and wrote. He's been on the book for a year or more now, couldn't he have shoe horned the whole secret diary thing in earlier in his run? Completely contrived explanation in my opinion.

Meanwhile, the events that play out with Cannonball and Iceman finding the actual locations of the diary once Emma unlocked the information still make little to no sense. They hid the diary in a decrepit building that apparently collapsed on top of it? And inside a big red plastic case with an X on it? And the villains that dominated the entire X-team can't even compete with two of them here?

It took Mr Sinister himself to come in all deus-ex-machina-like and stop Iceman and Cannonball from mopping the floor with the entire Marauder team. And what do they do with the captured heroes? They apparently let Gambit try to kill one, resulting in the diaries being destroyed. Sinister then mind wipes Cannonball to show the X-Men what happens when they mess with him. He leaves Mystique handle Iceman on her own away from the entire team where she promptly lets him go unharmed.

It did, however, look like Mystique might be under someone else's control or possibly forced to work with Sinister in some way which explains her actions for the most part and some of the retarded decisions regarding how to finish off X-Men in the last few issues.

The issue wasn't terrible, but there are way too many contrived explanations made for this issues 'big scenes' and odd choices by the villains in regards to attacking or disabling the heroes. Add in little to no answers in regards to Sinister's motives or what this storyline is building to and it adds up to a barely average book. This story arc started with a bang, but with the last two issues, it's been a ship without a rudder.

On the Endangered Species side of things, Beast takes the moral high ground again and puts a stop to Dark Beast's attempt at experimenting on the young boy from last week's chapter. They basically just have a little fight, much like every other argument they've had. Once Dark Beast is down, Beast gets to work trying to help the boy stabilize. Don't bother with this book if you are only looking for Endangered Species developments. Nothing to see here.

Verdict - Check It

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